1988 was a good year here in the Jameson household. In the Spring, we participated at the Grand National Taekwondo tournament where Chad and Sean both placed third in the nation in their respective black belt categories. And it was the year I began my journey to achieving a black belt of my own.
Let me be a mom for a minute and then we'll get to the subject matter. Two weeks after the boys brought home the trophies from that national karate competition, Chad won the state high school powerlifting championship. A few months later, Sean set five state powerlifting records for his size group.
How would you like to discipline two teenage boys with those credentials?
Yeah, that was a lead-in question because, if you are familiar with Songahm Taekwondo, you know that life philosophy is taught as strongly as kicking, punching and destroying boards. By the time a person earns the coveted black belt, he (or she) has learned a lot about the proper way to do things.
Grand Master H. U. Lee (1936 - 2000) guided the 300,000-plus organization with an overriding philosophy: "In victory, be humble. In defeat, be strong. In all things, be fair."
Everyone begins Taekwondo as a newbie. It doesn't matter what you have in the bank or what your life experiences have been up to that time, you begin as a white belt. The best example I can give you of this is when Chad was "hired" to give private lessons to a guy who had won the title of Mr. Arkansas FIVE TIMES. Even though he looked like The Hulk and had significant achievements in body building, he was a newbie in Taekwondo. And, eventually, he wore his black belt with the pride of accomplishment.
Napolean Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, provides the White Belt inspiration: "What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve."
White Belts must learn:
Practice -- Anything you do will improve when you try harder. Think back to the time you first sat down in front of a personal computer. Most of you won't even know what I'm talking about when I say 8086 but that was my first experience. Of course that was replaced by the XT and then the AT and then...well, I'm sure you know that IT products change frequently. How did you learn to use your PC? You practiced and practiced and practiced.
Self Image -- Your attitude is guided by your self-image, so be positive about yourself. Know you can do it if you set your mind to it. I know you have accomplished something in life. You have learned how to use a computer well enough to be reading this article. Project that accomplishment into other aspects of your life.
Visualization -- Look into the crystal ball inside your head. Look into the future and see yourself accomplishing YOUR goal. (A goal Larry and I have is to retire to a beach chalet, so we spend two weeks every year in the French West Indies as a reminder...as a visualization of achievement.)
Stand Tall -- Be confident. Look confident. Act confident. Don't mistake confidence with cockiness. Remember the words of Master Lee, "In victory, be humble." Take ownership of your life; take ownership of your accomplishments; take ownership of your failures. Know, and I mean really KNOW, that YOU are in charge.
When asked about his failures, Thomas Edison said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." I attended a taekwondo competition in Springfield, Missouri, after getting my black belt. They called my name and I moved my 5-foot, 1-inch, 102 lbs into the ring. Then they called the second name, and this 6-foot, 200 lb woman came to stand in front of me. During the sparring match, I also discovered 10,000 ways that would not work!
If you thought I was going to tell you a David vs. Goliath story, you were mistaken. Goliath mopped up the ring with me. Did I quit taekwondo? No. Was I discouraged? Well, yeah! At least until the pain subsided.
Discouragement DOES NOT equal defeat. Don't you think that Thomas Edison was discouraged each and every one of those 10,000 ways that didn't work? But we still have light bulbs, don't we? Another of my favorite Edison quotes is this: "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
Make your goal today to master White Belt marketing. Practice by learning more about what it is you want do do. Develop the I CAN self image. Visualize your goal. Take ownership of your life and be confident. Don't give up.
Be sure to check back for the next article in the Black Belt Marketing series.
